At the 2012 Democratic convention, President Obama was the candidate. This year, he will be a superdelegate. (Photo: Jae C. Hong, AP)
It is a bit of a challenge to comprehend Illinois Democrats' 91-page "delegate selection plan" for this year's national convention, but two words stand out among the list of officials who will be Illinois superdelegates: "The President."
That would be President Obama, the one-time U.S. senator from the Land of Lincoln, who also served as a superdelegate from the state in 2008, when he voted for himself. Then-Sen. HIllary Clinton was also a superdelegate that year and also backed Obama at the convention as part of her call for party unity.
Democrats have about 700 party leaders who serve as superdelegates who can cast their votes for whomever they like, regardless of the primary vote of the states they hail from. Members of Congress and other elected officials get to be superdelegates, as do former presidents. Bill Clinton is a New York superdelegate this year (guess which candidate he is backing) and Jimmy Carter is a superdelegate from Georgia.
Obama has remained non-committal about who he is backing this year, but one would have to assume he would be in Really Big Trouble if he backed someone other than Hillary Clinton after all they have been through.
It seems unlikely that Obama would put on a funny hat, wade into the crowd on the convention floor and caucus with the rest of the Illinois delegation, but he will have a ticket to do so if he so chooses.
Illinois has 26 superdelegates; Democrats vote Tuesday to select 156 other convention delegates from the state, which trivia buffs will recall is also where Hillary Clinton was born.
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